The author carries Kerala within him through his parents and grandparents. He carries Malaya through childhood, Britain through education and professional life. He now inhabits Italy both physically and emotionally. Rather than competing identities, they feel like layers of one long conversation.
Full Text PDFThis article examines the development of “engaged Buddhism” at Phổ Lại Pagoda in central Vietnam through the humanitarian, cultural, and spiritual activities associated with Venerable Thích Trung Hiếu. Broadly understood, engaged Buddhism refers to forms of Buddhist practice that apply compassion and ethical teachings to concrete social and humanitarian concerns. Located in the rural midland region near Huế, Phổ Lại Pagoda has evolved from a modest recitation hall into a community-centered Buddhist institution. Through flood relief, educational support, cultural preservation, and digital outreach, the pagoda demonstrates how Buddhist practice in contemporary Vietnam extends beyond ritual devotion into everyday forms of social care and community resilience.
Full Text PDFThis study concerns China’s model of “two-level” diplomacy: state-to-state diplomacy and party-to-party diplomacy. While both levels try to hold to the principles of mutual respect and mutual non-interference, they differ in a key respect. State-to-state diplomacy seeks to be as depoliticized as possible, in the sense that the political orientation of a country’s government should not hinder relations between states. Party-to-party diplomacy seeks to connect more closely with like-minded political parties across the world, as well as any political party that seeks to engage and cooperate with the Communist Party of China (CPC). In order to understand how such diplomacy has risen and how it works, we need to consider: (a) the political system in China from which two-level diplomacy arises; and (b) how this approach to diplomacy has developed historically. Understanding both of these aspects—political system and history—enables us to deal with the present, especially in terms of what is clearly a new stage of such diplomacy. This new stage is emerging against the backdrop of the significant global changes that are underway today.
Full Text PDFThis article thinks through the seemingly “unnecessary” role of the zombie in the first Filipino zombie movie, Outside (2024), directed by Carlo Ledesma. I examine how trauma is presented in relation to the hacienda and the plantation land, and discuss the lasting trauma Spanish, American, and Japanese colonization has had on the Philippines. Drawing from Maximo Ramos’ exploration of Filipino aswang and Neferti Tadiar’s methodology examining the “insignificant,” I discuss parallels between the zombies and the hacienda and how they force Francis (the patriarch) to retreat inward and face the trauma he tries to repress. I argue that the zombie and the hacienda represent the horror of trauma inside and outside the home, and haunt both humans and the environment
Full Text PDFThis paper examines the theme of metamorphosis in contemporary Asian cinema through a comparative analysis of Amanda Nell Eu’s Tiger Stripes (2023) and Heo Jeong’s JangSanBeom (2017). Using Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis as a foundational literary and theoretical framework, this study explores how these films employ regional folklore to articulate modern anxieties surrounding identity, familial alienation, and societal pressure. It investigates the transformation of the body in Tiger Stripes as a potent allegory for female puberty and a subversion of patriarchal folklore, arguing that the protagonist’s transformation represents a reclamation of agency. In contrast, it analyzes the metamorphosis of voice in JangSanBeom as a psychological horror that weaponizes grief and maternal guilt, turning the familiar into the uncanny. By juxtaposing these narratives, this paper reveals a shared Kafkaesque thread of communication breakdown within the family unit yet highlights their divergent conclusions: one of empowered defiance, the other of tragic submission to trauma. Ultimately, the paper argues that these films demonstrate the enduring power of the tiger as a cultural symbol to critique contemporary social structures and explore the fragile boundaries of the self.
Full Text PDFThis study develops the concept of skin capital, a form of embodied capital in Pierre Bourdieu's framework, produced not through acquired skill but through market valuation of phenotypic (physical, biochemical, or behavioral) racial difference. Drawing on nine months of ethnographic fieldwork in Delhi and semi-structured interviews with nineteen women from Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram engaged in paid intimate labor, it shows how an “East Asian presenting” phenotype is converted into capital that can be performed, accumulated, and exchanged at rates above market norms. The authors introduce phenotypic labor: the curation and staging of racialized appearance as an erotic commodity and argue that racial fetishism in commercial sex concentrates broader inequalities facing bodies in India.
Full Text PDFThe use of color has received comparatively less academic attention in the films of Northeast India, partly due to limited dedicated research and expertise in this area, and because cinema in India has historically been regarded more as a medium of entertainment and a vehicle for spreading messages than as an aesthetic audio-visual art form. The authors find that filmmaker Pradip Kurbah stands out among the others by consciously using color in Lewduh (Market, 2019) to augment beauty and imply the meaning of its narrative, as well as showcasing the socio-cultural scenario of Khasi society and the Lewduh market in Shillong, Meghalaya. The significance of this article lies in its attempt to fill a research void on the technical artistry, namely the use of color in film to impart meaning, in the cinema of the Northeast, thereby opening new avenues for scholarly and artistic appreciation.
Knowledge Production in Cold War Asia: US Hegemony and Local Agency. Edited by Yuka Tsuchiya Moriguchi, Shin Kawashima, and Somei Kobayashi. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2025, 348 pages, paperback US$50.00; hardback US$110.00; ebook US$44.99.
Full Text PDFMalene K. Brandshaug and Axel Borchgrevink, eds. The Politics of Riverine Rights: Environmental Struggles in Aotearoa New Zealand, Colombia and India. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2026, 244 pages, $160.00 (hardback).
Full Text PDFNeutrality After 1989: New Paths in the Post-Cold War World. Edited by Naman Karl-Thomas Habtom. Bristol, UK: E-International Relations, 2024, 134 pages
https://www.e-ir.info/publication/neutrality-after-1989-new-paths-in-the-post-cold-war-world/
Rising Asia is a scholarly publication and journal of record with a multidisciplinary orientation. It serves as a resource for the study, investigation, and teaching of Asian societies. Each volume of the journal contains interpretive essays on all aspects of Asian history, economy, diplomacy, literature, health, science, military affairs (war, peace and society or WPS) and culture.
Its coverage spans the humanities and social sciences, incorporating various thematic approaches—historical, economic, foreign policy, military, literary and theoretical that explore issues of grand strategy, ideology, ethnicity, race and gender, diasporic and indigenous communities, and colonialism and postcolonialism. The journal also publishes research articles in the field of Film Studies, as well as commentaries on museum exhibits and resource guides, provided all of them are scholarly in nature.
| Title: | Rising Asia Journal |
|---|---|
| Frequency: | Three times a year |
| ISSN: | ISSN 2583-1038 |
| Publisher: | Rising Asia Foundation |
| Chief Editor: | Harish C. Mehta |
| Copyright: | Rising Asia Foundation |
| Starting year: | January 2021 |
| Subject: | Multidisciplinary subjects |
| Language: | English |
| Publication Format: | Online |
| Phone No: | 91-9830721954 |
| Email id: | harishcmehta1968@gmail.com |
| Website: | www.rajraf.org |
| Address: | 32 T, New Road, Alipore, Kolkata 700 027, West Bengal, India |
HARISH C. MEHTA
PhD, McMaster University, Canada;
former Lecturer at University of Toronto, McMaster,
and Trent University;
and former Senior Indochina Correspondent,
The Business Times of Singapore.
harishcmehta1968@gmail.com
harish.mehta@utoronto.ca
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DEB A. MUKHERJEE
St. Stephen's College; University of Delhi;
Managing Director, Cenergist Energy Private Limited;
Chairperson, The Delhi Council of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry; former President, BCC&I.
debamukherjee59@gmail.com
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GURJIT SINGH
Former Ambassador of India to Germany, Indonesia, ASEAN, Ethiopia and the African Union;
currently honorary Professor of Humanities, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore (Japan, Indonesia, ASEAN, Africa and Europe),
ambassadorgurjitsingh@gmail.com
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ANG CHENG GUAN
Professor, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore. (International History and Politics of Southeast Asia),
iscgang@ntu.edu.sg
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JANGKHONGAM DOUNGEL
Professor, Department of Political Science, Mizoram University, Aizawl (Local/Regional Politics & Socio-Economic Development of Mizoram, and Autonomy Movements in the North East),
jdoungel@gmail.com
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MANASHJYOTI KARJEE
MA, International Relations & Area Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, and BA, Political Science, Ramjas College, University of Delhi; former positions: Assistant Professor, SGT University, and Researcher of Security & Society at Advanced Study Institute of Asia (Security Dynamics, Arctic Geopolitics, Global Geopolitical Shifts),
manashjrkarjee@gmail.com
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AURKO CHAKRABARTI
BA, Media & Communications, Swansea University; former positions: Editor of Decypher Journal, and Narrative Designer, and Geopolitical Research Analyst at Advanced Study Institute of Asia (Media and Political Communication, Visual Culture and Narrative Politics, Media Systems and Public Discourse),
aurko.chakrabarti@gmail.com
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Julie Banerjee Mehta
Former Lecturer, University of Toronto and York University, currently Guest Faculty Professor, Loreto College, Calcutta (Postcolonial and Gender Theory, World Literatures, Diaspora Studies and Southeast Asian Culture),
juliemehta57@gmail.com
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Suchorita Chattopadhyay
Professor, Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University (Comparative Literature, Japan, and Asian Diasporas),
suchoritachattopadhyay@yahoo.com
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Craig Etcheson
PhD (International Relations), University of Southern California; former Visiting Scientist at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health from 2017 through June 2022 (Transitional Justice, Genocide Studies, and Cambodia),
etcheson@ix.netcom.com
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Lalnundika Hnamte
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Pachhunga University College, A Constituent College of Mizoram University (Peace and Conflict Resolution; Northeast Indian politics; Sixth Schedule and Tribal Autonomy; Migration and Citizenship;
Look East/Act East Policy),
lalnundika@jbc.edu.in
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Tuan Hoang
Professor of Great Books and Blanche E. Seaver Professor of Humanities and Teacher Education, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California (Modern Vietnamese Intellectual and Religious History, Vietnamese American History, and Vietnamese Catholicism),
tuan.hoang@pepperdine.edu
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Sanjay Kathuria
PhD (Economics), University of Oxford; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, and Ashoka University, Sonipat, India; Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research and former Lead Economist, World Bank (South Asian Trade and Investment, India's North East, Global Economy, Economic Growth, and Competitiveness),
sanjay@cprindia.org
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Veronica Khangchian
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Dhanamanjuri University, Imphal, Manipur;
she formerly taught in the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, and at Maitreyi College, University of Delhi (Ethnicity & Conflict, Migration, and Peace Processes in Northeast India),
verokarujiliu@gmail.com
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Vimal Khawas
Professor, the Special Centre for the Study of North East India, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (the Himalayan region, Sikkim, Nepal, Environmental Studies/Security, Development Studies, Urban and Regional Planning),
vimalkhawas@mail.jnu.ac.in
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Siddharth Mallavarapu
Professor, Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, Shiv Nadar University (Disciplinary histories of International Relations, Theories of IR in the Global South, Asia in World Affairs, Comparative Political Thought, and Critical Security Studies),
siddharth.m@snu.edu.in
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Medha
Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, Shiv Nadar University (South Asian Historical International Relations, Postcolonial and Decolonial approaches, Identities, Ideologies and Religion, and Discourse Theory),
medha@snu.edu.in
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Biswajit Mohapatra
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong (Politics, International Relations and Foreign Policy; and India's North East),
biswajitm1@gmail.com
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Nguyet Nguyen
Assistant Professor of History, Department of Social Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Alaska, Southeast, Juneau, Alaska (Vietnam War, U.S. Foreign Relations, Imperialism and Decolonization, and Gender Politics),
ntnguyen2@alaska.edu
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Por Heong Hong
Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang (Malaysia's healthcare policy, biopolitics, politics of memory, politics of heritage),
porheonghong@usm.my
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Salikyu Sangtam
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Tetso College, Dimapur, Nagaland, India (Politics of Knowledge, Political Thought, Political Philosophy),
salikyu.sangtam@gmail.com
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Vu Duong Luan
Senior Lecturer, Department of Heritage Studies, and Head of Office of Research Affairs and International Cooperation, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (Transnational History of Sino-Vietnamese Early Modern Borderlands, Comparative Studies of Social and Economic Institutions of Imperial China and Vietnam, and the Politics of Heritage in Chinese and Vietnamese societies).
luanvuduong@gmail.com
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BOOKS
Mohini Maureen Pradhan
mohinipcal53@gmail.com
FILM STUDIES
Raka Mukherjee
rakamukherjeeofficial@gmail.com.
RESEARCH
Hemalatha Sridhar
tatsugarde@gmail.com
Hussena Calcuttawala
hussenacal@gmail.com
COLUMNS
Valentina Notts
valentinanotts@gmail.com
PUBLISHING EXECUTIVE
Roshni Subramani
sales.risingasia@gmail.com
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